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Will Fringe Politics Help Drive Voter Turnout In U.S.?; Mayor of Iguala, Wife Arrested For Disappearance Of College Students; Al Nusra Front Pushing Out Moderate Rebels In Idlib; One Square Meter: Ankara; US-Iran Hostage 35 Years On; Indian Companies Face Big Challenges; Modi's Honeymoon Period Over; Parting Shots: Fathers and Daughters of Iran

Aired November 04, 2014 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Question one on the ballot in Maine asks, "do you want to ban the use of bait, dogs or traps in bear hunting?" With some

exceptions for, say, public safety?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: The U.S. economy is out-performing the rest of the west, Ebola and ISIS commanding the headlines. So, you might be surprised that

bears are a big ballot issue today in one U.S. state.

This hour, we will examine why fringe politics and far-out policies can make the difference between winning and losing in the U.S. midterm

elections.

Also ahead, 35 years after the wounds still refusing to heal, we'll remember the Iran hostage crisis and hear firsthand from one of the

American captives who wants a lasting remedy.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.

ANDERSON: A very good evening from the UAE. It is 8:00 p.m. here.

The polls are open in the United States for midterm elections. Today's vote will help map the political direction of the country for the

next two years, but that clarity may not come on election night. Some races are expected to be too close to call. And it's likely some

candidates will be forced into a runoff.

Now, a total of 471 congressional seats are up for grabs, that's all of those in the House of Representatives, or the lower house, and just over

a third in the Senate, the upper house.

Right now, much of the momentum seems to be with the Republican candidates running for the Senate. They need to pick up six seats to take

control from the Democrats.

CNN's latest pivot polls shows Republicans have a 95 percent chance of doing just that. And its assumed that they will also keep control of the

House.

Well, one reason Republicans are getting a boost in the polls may be President Barack Obama's dismal approval ratings among voters.

Michelle Kosinski reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI (voice-over): The first lady on the campaign trail, while the president supported Democrats out of the public eye. The White

House says there are robocalls and radio interviews still to come.

He did have a busy weekend, several stops, but far away from those pivotal Senate contests the nation is watching.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is sort of the last election cycle in which I'm involved as president. You know, it makes you a

little wistful, because I do like campaigning. It's fun.

KOSINSKI: Less so though when vulnerable Democrats don't exactly invite you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not Barack Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The administration's policies are simply wrong.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: There's no question that Democrats are running away. More than anything else in this cacophony of an

election, the issue of the president's unpopularity really has become a drag in key Senate races.

KOSINSKI: In New Hampshire, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen was asked why Obama wasn't coming. Her answer?

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D), NEW HAMPSHIRE: He's busy in Washington. He's dealing with the Ebola threat. He's dealing with the threat from ISIS. I

think he's exactly where he needs to be.

KOSINSKI: Adding to the discomfort, when the president said this last month.

OBAMA: I'm not on the ballot this fall. These policies are on the ballot, every single one of them.

KOSINSKI: Which Republicans jumped all over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On issue after issue, Senator Shaheen continues to vote with President Obama 99 percent of the time.

NARRATOR: The issue is trust. Do you trust President Obama and the Washington politicians to deal with the problems we face?

KOSINSKI: Some analysts feel the strongest message the White House could send which could have helped these Democrats if they had allowed it

is that the American economy is doing well, better than virtually any other country affected by the recession. But they say that just hasn't been

registering, that many voters have tuned out, which happens in almost every presidential second term.

The campaign cold shoulder was also turned on George W. Bush during the 2006 midterms.

GERGEN: What's striking is that President Obama and George W. stand out as the two weakest presidents going into the midterms in over 30 years.

KOSINSKI: The White House says we will continue to hear from the president leading up to the end of election day. But what that will

include will be robocalls and radio spots, not public appearances. We now know that one of those radio spots will air in North Carolina for Senator

Kay Hagan who is at times distanced herself from the White House as we have seen in many of these hot Senate races that America is going to be watching

closely.

Michelle Kosinski, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: And we're going to have much more on election day coverage for you as you would expect right here on CNN. This is Connect the World

with me, Becky Anderson. In just a few moments, we'll take you live to Washington to gauge the mood as the vote gets underway across the United

States.

Plus, find out how controversial ballot issues, including some on marijuana use, could drive more voters to the polls.

And of course stay with CNN for complete coverage of the vote. Join Wolf, Anderson Cooper and CNN's entire political team for results and

analysis. CNN's election night in America begins quarter to midnight Tuesday, London, that is just before 4:00 in the morning Wednesday here in

the UAE. That is only on CNN.

An Iraqi-Kurdish official says more than 200 Yazidi men, women and children held captive by ISIS have been freed. The official said some

escaped, others were released as a result of negotiations and payments of more than $1 million, though he says that money did not go directly to

ISIS.

Well, the religious minority faced a dire situation in August, you'll remember, when they were trapped in -- or on Sinjar Mountain after fleeing

ISIS.

Well, also the Iraqi government says the militants recently slaughtered more than 300 members of an anti-ISIS Sunni tribe west of

Baghdad.

Well, in the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani, the Iraqi Peshmerga and Syrian Free Army reinforcements have joined the battle

against ISIS. Nick Paton Walsh joining us from southern Turkey.

And Nick, the moderate rebels that Obama pledged to arm, either being slaughtered by al Qaeda affiliates al Nusra in Idlib, or they are defecting

to the group. Why is the U.S. not going after that group?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is the start of the U.S. bombing campaign and number one they went after part of

Nusra known as the Khorosan Group U.S. officials claim were an imminent threat to the United States.

Now they have not since been pursuing Nusra. And there is some rationale potentially to that, or it may just be that the U.S. doesn't have

the firepower or will to do that just yet. The rationale being that Nusra are, in fact, popular among a lot of the Syrian population who have lived

through years of war and consider this al Qaeda affiliate to actually be the ones protecting them fighting the regime.

Remember, the regime are bombarding from the skies many Syrian civilians on a daily basis. Huge numbers of dead from that.

So, when -- we use the word slaughter, I mean these moderate groups are being pushed back, certainly. We're not talking about large numbers of

casualties. They're losing 70 percent of the territory they're supposed to have had. And I think many regard that as a reaction to the airstrikes

that have been hitting Nusra.

Some Syrians have wrongly or rightly want to interpret that, consider that as the U.S. punishing their protectors.

So it's an awfully complex nuanced picture where bizarrely you may end up having to believe Syrians think some al Qaeda affiliates are the good

guys.

But when you're seeing this change happening on the ground, it's a real example of the weakness of the U.S. policy of backing these moderates.

They don't have, really, the constituency on the ground. And they certainly haven't got the manpower. So it's been quite easy for Nusra in

about a week to clean house -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Nick, this time yesterday on this program I spoke with the new UN envoy for Syria, Stefan de Mistura. And I asked him how the U.S.-

led coalition can begin to make progress. He told me that small concrete victories, as he described them, against ISIS could prove iconic and

inspire momentum.

I want our viewers to just be reminded of what he said. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEFAN DE MISTURA, UN SPECIAL ENVOY TO SYRIA: If it is true that ISIS is the terrorist group that everyone has to concentrate to stop, then the

conflict should be at least frozen in other areas in order to be able to concentrate on ISIS. And one place for doing that is Aleppo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the envoy as you heard there, Nick, wants to make Aleppo safe.

We should remember that it was until recently Syria's commercial capital. Where does the city stand right now?

WALSH: Well, half of it, maybe more than half now, is in regime hands and by some accounts not that abnormal despite bids by rebels to disrupt

it.

The rebel-held areas, well they are on the brink of being encircled by the regime and a tense battle going on for a (inaudible) a place called

Hanbarat (ph). And that's vital, because it has overlook it sort of a hill above the main access road rebels use to get in and out.

There's another way, but that's really the only way. That's where the fighting is so intensive. And if the regime take it, they will effectively

cut off the rebel supply route into rebel-held areas.

Now, inside the area, inside the rebel-held area we are hearing of people leaving. Most still sticking it out, though, have no intention of

going anywhere. They don't really have much choice. The humanitarian catastrophe is close, food and water very scarce, particularly if that

encirclement is finally completed by the regime. And of course Nusra are powerful in Aleppo, so are other less than moderate groups like Ahrar al

Sham.

The life, really, in Aleppo extinguished now for years.

I think what Stefan de Mistura is talking about potentially is trying to infuse some sort of no-fly zone, to at least remove regime bombardment -

- barrel bombs dropped randomly on civilian areas, take that out of the equation so at least in rebel-held areas this you have as humanitarian and

getting the rebels to stop fighting amongst themselves and controlling that area more calmly.

But really here comes to this job at an incredibly late and difficult stage. The political solution he is supposed to be trying to foster, well,

they tried that twice. It didn't really work out certainly with the regime. Now there's ISIS in the mix. They don't even want to talk.

So I think it's incredibly difficult to see quite how life can be improved for civilians in northern Syria that quickly -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh on the story for you. Thanks, Nick.

Well, there's been a major development in the shocking case of 43 missing students in Mexico. Police say they have now arrested a mayor and

his wife over the disappearance of these student. Jose Luis Abarca and his wife Maria were detained in Mexico City. They've been wanted every since a

group of young trainee teachers was abducted in the city of Iguala more than a month ago.

Now authorities are also looking for the city's police chief. Mexico's attorney general accuses all three of the -- and I quote,

"probable masterminds," or being the probable masterminds in the kidnapping.

CNN's Rafael Romo joins me now from Guerrero State in Mexico. And you've interviewed the parents of two of these missing students. They must

be beside themselves. What did they say?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is very god news indeed, Becky, because of one reason: as you mentioned, he mayor of the city of Iguala,

Jose Luis Abarca and his wife Maria Pineda are probable masterminds, that's what the Mexican attorney general said, in the disappearance of the 43

students.

So what authorities are hoping is that he will be able to provide details that might help them and the students once and for all.

Now remember, it's been already 39 days since they went missing, nobody really knows where they are. And so there's a lot of uncertainty,

unbearable uncertainty for the parents.

I had an opportunity to talk to one of the parents who was telling me that during the attack his son called him on his cellphone and explained to

them and described to him the shocking details of what was happening as the attack was taking place. Let's take a listen

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILIANO NAVARRETE, MISSING STUDENT'S FATHER (through translator): What's happening, son? And he said, father, we're being attacked by the

police. They already shot my friend and he's lying on the floor. He said he was hit in the head. Over the cellphone call, you could hear that young

man screaming.

Then I told him, you know what, son, try to escape. Find a way to escape so that they don't harm you. Take good care of yourself. And

that's when the call dropped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And that's the shocking part, Becky, that police officers would attack a group of unarmed students. But like we've said before, these

police officers were not regular police officers, Mexican officials say, they were on the payroll of a drug gang. And they were just following

their orders.

Now back to you.

ANDERSON: Interesting. OK, thank you.

Still to come tonight, the beginning of mistrust. Thirty-five years ago today, a handful of radical students stormed the American embassy in

Iran. What happened next is seen as one of the most pivotal events in the modern history of both the United States and the Middle East. I speak to

one of the captives of the Iranian hostage crisis. What he says may surprise you.

Apologies if you're picking up the helicopter above me. I'll let that go for a moment.

And why ballot initiatives on the minimum wage, alcohol sales and even bear hunting could draw U.S. voters to the polls. That, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: You are looking at live pictures of Capitol Hill, but of a remake, it seems, going on there. This is Connect the World with me Becky

Anderson out of Abu Dhabi for you this evening.

We're thousands of miles away here, but keeping an eye on Americans who are voting in midterm elections. Polls have just opened in most of

Alaska and on the eastern U.S. coast the vote has been underway for a few hours.

Exit poll data won't come in until later, but preelection polls, at least, suggest Republicans are likely to maintain control of the House of

Representatives and stand a good chance of winning a majority in the state.

Let's find out what the atmosphere is like in Washington there. Evan Perez is standing by.

You got the polls, won't open for a couple of hours at this point, certain polls ahead of time suggesting this is going to be a tough one for

Democrats. Remind us why we should care about these midterm elections.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, remember Hope and Change, which was the campaign slogan for President Barack Obama, well those days

have faded certainly here in Washington.

You can tell that the Democrats are preparing to lose the Senate, because they're already doing the postmortem, sort of, well, did we make a

mistake by having all these Senate candidates who basically stayed away from the president? There were a lot of Senate candidates who ran ads

basically highlighting the different ways in which they disagreed with the president.

Today, the president debuted a new ad for Kay Hagan, the senator who is running in North Carolina. And that's a radio ad, so it's very -- one

of the few times that anybody has even dared to use the president as an endorsement, Becky.

ANDERSON: Interesting.

All right. Well, look, turnout I know is traditionally pretty low, hovering about 40 percent of eligible voters I think in these midterms.

Hot button issues, though, like abortion, marijuana sales certainly can drive state numbers high.

Look, effectively they're looking at getting the fringe, aren't they, those who do go out and vote on these things tend to be on the fringes of

politics, either very right or very left.

I know our colleague, Evan, Jake Tapper has put together just a sense of what is going on and what could be described as some pretty funky

politics. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): In one state, the election might all come down to bears. That's right, bears. Question one on the ballot in

Maine asks, do you want to ban the use of bait, dogs or traps in bear hunting, with some exceptions for, say, public safety?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't feed the bears!

TAPPER: Animal rights groups say the 7 million pounds of junk food like jelly donuts used to bait bears has increased the bear population.

Their ads show images of bears being unfairly trapped and killed, they say.

ANNOUNCER: The only way to stop this cruelty is to vote yes on question one.

TAPPER: But hunting and wildlife groups say bear baiting helps with tourism and it helps keep the population of bears down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maine's bear biologists and game wardens strongly oppose question one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a serious threat to public safety.

TAPPER: And this issue could drive hunters to the polls, providing a boost for conservative candidates. That's barely the only measure that

might swing on election one way or another. Voters in 41 states plus Washington, D.C. must also approve or reject 146 ballot measures on some of

the most hot button issues of the day.

In Washington State, a background check for all gun sales. In Colorado, an amendment defining personhood has starting the moment of

conception. In five states, there's a minimum wage increase on the ballot that could drive liberal voters to the polls.

There's also a lot of attention out there at getting voters' buzz on. More than half the counties in Arkansas are dry unless issue four passes in

which case, cheers. And then there's pot. Pass the referendum on the left- hand side. Voters in Alaska and Oregon will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana use.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reading is really sexy, but you know what else is sexy? Taxing marijuana and using the revenue for education.

TAPPER: The question in the sunshine state of Florida is whether to legalize the use of medical marijuana. The chief sponsor of the initiative

is none other than the law partner of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Charlie Crist.

Some believe that is an effort to drive turnout for Crist in a close contest with his successor, Republican Governor Rick Scott. A literal horse

race in Nebraska, one of many states where voters can roll the dice on whether to allow more gambling. A ballot measure would permit betting on

previously recorded horse races. These initiatives can truly shape your world. The 2004 Ohio referendum against same-sex marriage brought

conservatives to the polls to vote for George W. Bush against John Kerry and that victory was pivotal.

So, are these ballot initiatives important? Well, does a bear get shot in the woods?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And Jake makes a very good point, of course, not to dismiss the fact that many of these issues don't have their importance to many

people, but it does seem to suggest that the big ticket issues you'd be voting for in a presidential election like the economy, like foreign

policy, like abortion in the past seem to sort of, you know, not be having their day, as it were, and these are more of the kind of fringe issues that

we're seeing.

PEREZ: That's right, Becky.

You know, if you brought up the example of abortion and gay marriage, which has been used in the past to bring conservatives to the ballot box.

That has worked in the past.

Democrats this year are hoping that perhaps the marijuana amendments, which are on the ballot in Alaska and Oregon and in Washington, D.C. will

help bring -- and Florida, will help bring some of their supporters out to the ballot box. There's also the minimum wage amendments which are also on

the ballots in four different states that are -- that tend to lean conservative.

The question is whether the young voters that are trying -- perhaps might be appealed to with the marijuana amendments, whether they will come

out. They tend to not come out this time of year, these types of midterm elections, Democrats have a very hard time getting these voters out. So,

it's probably part of their problem the lack of enthusiasm that they're seeing.

ANDERSON: It'll be interesting to see just how much clout this sort of advertising or promotion on fringe issues will have.

All right, Evan, thank you for that.

We're going to have a special section of the website set aside for covering the key races.

Also, analysis you need to put it all in context, like why many Americans seem more angry than ever even as the country's economy, of

course, rebounds. That and more, CNN.com/election.

You're with me here live from the UAE. This is Connect the World.

India's Prime Minister Narenda Modi has been in his job six months. We'll check in on how that economy is doing.

Coming up next, though, a healthy boost for Turkey's construction industry. In this week's One Square Meter, we head to Ankara to visit the

modern Turkey, a biggest building project ever in a Medieval city. That's right, you heard it, a Medieval city. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: A wet day in Ankara. These people going about their daily lives are the engine of growth for the

property health care sector. Turkey's population is over 74 million and growing.

Every citizen, whether young or old, will need medical care at some point in their lives.

The need to upgrade and build new facilities to meet demand is very real.

So the Turkish government initiated a health care transformation program in 2003, financed by both private and public funds. 36 medical

facilities are under development. Billkant (ph) integrated health care campus will be the flagship, a site for science and knowledge.

It may be hard to visualize it now, but they call it an integrated campus for good reason. This will be the home to 1,300 doctors, more than

double that amount in nurses, a hotel, a commercial area and even a conference center (ph).

Project developer Dia (ph) says the build is ambitious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the largest project of Turkey ever under the Republican era. Turkey is at the crossroads of different geographies,

central Asia, Balkans, Caucuses, entire Middle East, Black Sea, Russia, it's made tremendous progress in the last 20 years. And health sector is

the next sector for Turkey.

DEFTERIOS: So far, 89,000 tons of iron and 900,000 cubic meters of concrete have been used to build this 1.2 million square meter campus.

Of the 35 million tourists who visited Turkey in 2013, close to 200,000 came for surgical procedures from cancer treatments to hair

transplants. The regional director of Acom (ph) says part of the health care program strategy is to tap into this market.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There will be other health care -- integrated health care facilities in Istanbul, in Gaziantep, in other cities of

Turkey.

DEFTERIOS: These medical students of Ankara University are key to the success of the transformation program, but graduate numbers are below the

amount of staff needed. It's an issue the ministry of health plans to address.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): At the moment, we don't have a high number of health professionals working in Turkey. We plan to recruit

doctors and nurses trained in the west, especially in Greece and wider Europe.

DEFTERIOS: The government is pushing to implement its health care reforms by 2018. By then, the Bilkant (ph) health campus is expected to

serve 25,000 patients each and every day.

John Defterios, CNN, Ankara.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: This is CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. The top stories for you this hour.

Millions of US voters are going to the polls to cast their ballot in midterm elections. All 435 House seats are in play, along with 300 and --

sorry -- along with 36 Senate seats. Republicans projected to win enough of those to keep control of the House and take control of the Senate.

In eastern Ukraine, the prime minister of the self-declared Republic of Donetsk has been sworn in. Alexander Zakharchenko won the election, but

it's a vote not recognized by Kiev, the US, or the EU. Moscow does support it and says the separatist government can now negotiate with Kiev.

A 70-year-old American academic is spending another night in a UAE jail for reportedly taking an illegal photograph. A family friend says

Robert Black has been detained here in Abu Dhabi for a fortnight. She says his family was only notified of his arrest after local US embassy inquiries

into his whereabouts. Local police not commenting.

A Kurdish official says more than 200 minority Yazidis held captive by ISIS have been released. The official says some escaped and others were

released through negotiations and payments of more than $1 million, so he says. That money did not go directly to ISIS. You'll remember back in

August, Yazidis were trapped on the Sinjar Mountains after fleeing the militants.

On this day in 1979, Iran was in the throes of a revolution. Radical student protesters attacked the US embassy in Tehran and captured 52

American hostages. It was America's first conflict with political Islam. Now, exactly 35 years to the day later, we're getting an inside look at

their 444 days of imprisonment. In a CNN special report, "Witnessed: The Iran Hostage Crisis."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CROWD SHOUTING, CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Iranian revolution was the first time I ever heard the United States referred to as the Great Satan.

(ROCKET FIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This revolution was extraordinarily fast. The first outbreak of demonstration was in early 1978. Basically, by the end

of the year, the shah was fleeing the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we were caught unawares by the rapid rise of the revolution, by the unpopularity of the shah.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: The US embassy in Tehran has been invaded and occupied. The Americans inside have been taken prisoner and, according to

a student spokesman, will be head as hostages until the deposed shah is returned from the United States, where he's receiving medical treatment for

cancer.

BILL DAUGHERTY, HOSTAGE, US EMBASSY IN TEHRAN, 1979: It wasn't until they managed to break into a basement window and actually get into the

embassy that we, the CIA, began destroying documents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were very carefully destroying everything that was confidential and secret and higher, and it finally got to the point of

it was taking too much time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I sought permission to go out and negotiate with these people. They kept insisting that the wanted to occupy the compound

and they wanted to do a protest, and I said, "You just can't do that."

And so, they marched me out in front of the embassy. They had tied my hands behind my back, and they started yelling.

(CROWD CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Limbert, who's a fluent Farsi speaker --

(JOHN LIMBERT SPEAKING FARSI)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- was speaking with them through the door. At some point, it was decided that he spoke Farsi, he would come out there.

And I think that probably lasted 23 seconds, if that. And then they grabbed him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: That's a snippet from the CNN special report, "Witnessed: The Iran Hostage Crisis." Well, the Farsi-speaking US diplomat you saw,

John Limbert, was one of the key characters in this event. He was held for 14 months. I spoke to him earlier and started by asking who he thought was

to blame for those 444 days in captivity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN LIMBERT, FORMER US DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR IRAN: I don't blame the young people themselves particularly. They were young,

they do what young people do, they get carried away, they get emotional.

If I blame anyone, it was the people in charge in Iran who had a responsibility under international law, under religious law, under just

about every tradition, they had a responsibility for our safety, our security as diplomats and guests in their country, and they simply ignored

that responsibility. Not only did they ignore it, but they took advantage of the situation and used it for their own benefit.

ANDERSON: You had the chance to meet the now Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during your time as a hostage. Remind me of what

happened and what he said to you. Your conversation.

(LAUGHTER)

LIMBERT: Oh, well, he did -- he visited us, actually -- he visited me in April 1980. Of course, we were both much younger then. But he was at

that time, I think, Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran, among other positions.

And I simply made the point to him, I said look, you Iranians are very famous and proud of your hospitality, and you like your guests, and you

don't want your guests to leave. But this is really too much. I think you -- in this case, you've done it. We've overstayed our welcome. And I

think it's time for us to leave.

He knew exactly what I was talking about, and that what they had done, in fact, was shameful and outrageous. But in Iranian context, this sort of

indirection is well understood. And he knew exactly the reference, that I was criticizing him and his people for violating every tradition of their

own -- in their own culture.

ANDERSON: Ambassador, many will say that it was during that time and as s a result of the hostage crisis that Khamenei was able to create his

power base, as it were.

LIMBERT: You're exactly right. Every revolution, every political upheaval, needs an external enemy. You need somebody to blame for your own

failures, and we were, certainly, a convenient one. Letting the shah into the country, of course, played exactly -- played into that particular need.

So, we were the perfect enemy, and he and his allies could use that for -- to cement their own power.

ANDERSON: When you were released, I know you said you thought it would be five to seven years before relations between Washington and Tehran

were improved. Clearly, it's been a lot longer than that. You've said that the history of communications between the two countries has been one

of lost opportunities. Just explain what you mean.

LIMBERT: The history has been, as we've seen, this happened during the first Bush administration, during the Clinton administration, during

the second Bush administration. There were opportunities. We had some tentative cooperation, for example, over Afghanistan.

And in -- the history was that those opportunities were lost. Something would come along, they would run into the "Axis of Evil" speech,

they would run into other things, so we lost one opportunity after the other.

My hope is that this time, where we once again have an opportunity, and that perhaps history will not repeat itself, and that we won't lose it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: John Limbert, speaking to me earlier. And hear more from the captives and how they survived the ordeal. That's "Witnessed: The

Iran Hostage Crisis." It airs 8:00 PM London, midnight here in the UAE, only on CNN.

Live from Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. We'll share a different view of Iran coming up. Images of

fathers and daughters highlight the diversity of a country caught between tradition and modernity.

And India's prime minister is revolutionizing the country's economy, but doing business there is still very challenging. That is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, it was a reception more fitting for a rock star rather than a global leader. India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi,

addressed a full house at Madison Square Garden in September. And as Modi fever caught on, so did India's stock market, it has to be said. Direct

foreign investments started to grow and deficit shrank.

Well, the prime minister is now marking six months on the job by hosting an economic summit organized by the World Economic Forum. The

country clearly making some gains, but Mr. Modi, it has to be said, has got some work to do, something that we pointed out when we were covering his

election back in May in New Delhi.

India ranked 85th in the world for basic things like roads and public services. So, updating the country's infrastructure is essential.

Cracking down on corruption will go far to boost the economy, and Mr. Modi also needs to work on making it easier to do business in India.

The World Bank ranks India 142nd in the world for ease of business. As Asia-Pacific editor Andrew Stevens now reports, bureaucracy, bribes, and

blackouts are the norm in the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR (voice-over): A small high- end clothing business in India with big ambitions.

DHRUV SEHGAL, BUSINESS OWNER: Men fashion with Tom Ford.

STEVENS: Dhruv Sehgal wants to be India's Tom Ford. He designs and makes his own cloths at three factories and has seven stores. But it's

still a struggle, not because his clothes don't sell, but because it's India, and doing business here is tough.

SEHGAL: For a smaller project like ours, you've just got to manage everything on your own. You don't expect help from anyone anywhere.

STEVENS: Sehgal deals daily with power blackouts at his factories, multiple layers of tax demands, bureaucratic red tape, and payoffs.

SEHGAL: The moment you expand, the wrong kind of people start looking at you with greedy eyes.

STEVENS (on camera): The frustration about running a business, particularly a small business, is not just confined to the capital, New

Delhi, either. It spreads right across the country. In fact, the World Bank has just issued its latest Ease of Doing Business report, and in it,

India has actually fallen two spots to a dismal 142nd place out of 189 countries.

STEVENS (voice-over): To take one example, to set up a company here takes 28 days. That's 158 positions on the table. In many developed

economies, it's less than a week.

R. NARYAN, CEO, POWER2SME: If you look at our laws, they are very archaic in nature.

STEVENS: but this archaic system may just be about to modernize. R. Naryan helps small manufacturers source raw materials. He says the new

prime minister, Narendra Modi, looks serious about tackling the problem.

NARYAN: He's playing the role of an advocate. The best thing he is doing is he's not playing the role of an expert. He's actually getting

panels of experts for each of the problems that we are facing and putting them in sometimes, and he's just facilitating the progress from point A to

point B, point C to point D.

STEVENS: Since he took power, Modi has been pushing India's powerful bureaucrats to be more accountable, taking the model he used in his home

base of Gujarat, which many say is the most business-friendly state in the country.

CROWD (chanting): Modi! Modi! Modi!

STEVENS: But so far, his election promises of rejuvenating the Indian economy remain just that, promises.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Tough times. Andrew Stevens joins me now, live from New Delhi. The CNN India bureau chief himself penned a dot-com article

entitled "Memo to Modi" back in May, pointing out many of the challenges that he faced, some of which you pointed out in that report. Our viewers

can still find that on cnn.com.

Andrew, clearly we've pointed out the challenges. Clearly you've pointed out that there are many promises that have been made. How do

people in India feel about the future? Is there optimism that six months in, at least he's going in the right direction?

STEVENS: In a word, yes, Becky. There is optimism here. And speaking at the World Economic Forum to business leaders, they are saying

generally that they are hopeful that this new administration, given the fact that it did come in with a strong mandate -- the strongest mandate in

30 years for economic reform.

They hold the lower house in their own right, which does give them a lot of power to get things done. So yes, there is this sense of optimism

here. It was widely shared. But at the moment, as I say in the report, it is just that.

And there is people questioning him, saying he's been there six months, we need to start to see more concrete moves. There have been some,

Becky. We talk about making the bureaucracy more efficient, we talk about subsidies being cut on diesel, very, very important.

But one key industrial is Anand Mahindra, who's the head of the giant automaker Mahindra Group. I spoke to him earlier this afternoon, and I

asked him what he thought about the progress so far. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANAND MAHINDRA, CHAIRMAN, MAHINDRA GROUP: The honeymoon period is over. He's done a great job, he's got good grades on the honeymoon period.

Sustaining this and getting implementation, now, I would say if in a year we don't see some real change in the economy, some change in the animal

spirits, and some real economic data to show what he's doing is working, time will be running out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: Key phrase here, the honeymoon period is over. And remember, there are some massive changes, reforms that are needed to really

get this economy into that sustainable high-growth model, Becky. Things like sorting out the labor market, making it easier to hire and fire

people. There's myriad taxes which vary from state to state, which is a nightmare for business, things like that.

And of course, something you mentioned earlier: the infrastructure issues. Tens of billions of dollars are needed on ports, on rail, on road

and, of course, on electricity. So, there are still huge challenges facing this new administration.

And as Mahindra -- Anand Mahindra said, there, in a year's time, if we haven't seen real, concrete change, the mood here could change quite

significantly.

ANDERSON: Andrew Stevens on the story for you. And we'll have a lot more from the World Economic Forum in New Delhi in the days ahead.

Sumnima Udas takes us to India's Smart Cities on Wednesday. We're talking about rural communities being transformed into futuristic, high-

growth areas. And we're going to examine how Mr. Modi's plans are working out and at what cost. That's this time tomorrow here in Abu Dhabi, 9:30 PM

in New Delhi, only on CNN.

Live from this city, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. How a photography project is breaking down stereotypes by

capturing diversity in Iran. On the 35th anniversary of the US hostage situation, your Parting Shots are next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: And a quick reminder to stay with CNN for complete coverage of the US midterm election. CNN's Election Night in America begins a

quarter to midnight Tuesday, London. That's just before 4:00 in the morning if you are a viewer here in the UAE. Only on CNN.

The relationship between fathers and daughters is often marked by a very special bond. Your Parting Shots tonight from one photojournalist who

uses the link between fathers and their daughters to challenge stereotypes about Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NAFISE MOTLAQ, PHOTOJOURNALIST: My name is Nafise Motlaq. I'm an Iranian photographer. This project actually was to tell people that when

you talk about Iran, you should know that you are talking about a very huge country with more than 80 million people who are very diverse ethnically

and culturally and religiously, everything.

Nothing really surprised me when I was doing this project, because to me, there are -- look like the same from -- compared to the fathers and

daughters around the world. But what surprised me very much was the feedback.

And when I received this feedback from people, ordinary people, they sometimes even sent me the pictures of themselves with their father or

daughter.

My favorite one is the farmer and his daughter. He was driving on a country road far from a village, far from Tehran. I asked them to stop and

told them about my project. They just smiled, and I directly asked the man to give me permission to take picture of him and his daughter, and he said

yes, of course.

And he even told me that, "While you're here, come to my house. It's very small, though, we can offer you something to eat." And that was

beautiful.

Those who told me that this project gives them a bigger perspective, a new perspective about Iran, that makes me very happy. That makes me

hopeful that I've reached my goal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: As you know, this program is all about connecting the world, and one thing that's connecting part of this world this Tuesday is

the holiday of Ashura. It's celebrated in different ways in different places, and we'd love to have you share your experiences with us.

Do get in touch. There's a number of ways you can do it, facebook.com/CNNconnect, one of those ways. You can always tweet me

@BeckyCNN. I'm also on Instagram, and this is an opportunity to tag me on your Ashura photos and we'll look to share some of those with our viewers,

that's Becky CNN on Instagram.

I'm Becky Anderson, of course, that was CONNECT THE WORLD, thank you for watching. I'll be back in the next hour with an update on the American

citizen reportedly detained here in the UAE for taking a photograph of something that he shouldn't have done. Back with you in a few minutes,

thanks for watching.

END